Independent Living
Independent Living
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Independent Living Funds
Here are the projects that are currently happening in the Independent Living Program. These are projects that are funded or directly affiliated with the Office of Children's Services. There are lots of other programs that serve young people who are aging out of foster care that do not receive funding through this program. Check out Resources and Links to get information on those.
Browse through our current projects using the links on the left or just scroll down this window.
Independent Living Funds are available through the Office of Children's Services for youth in custody and those who were in custody on or after their 16th birthday but have not yet turned 21, who need support as they prepare for the transition from foster care to self-sufficiency. Independent Living Funds can be used to help youth gain the skills, experience, and materials they will need to become self-sufficient adults. More about this.
Education & Training funds available to foster youth and eligible former foster youth for the cost of post secondary education and training. More about this.
The Alaska Resource Family Center (ARFC) provides training and
support to foster parents of youth of all ages in Alaska. They have some
special support to foster parents of youth preparing to age out of foster
care. They have a wealth of materials and resources for helping build
life skills and prepare youth to live self-sufficiently. They host Foster
Parent Training seminars throughout the state that include special tracks
for preparing young people to live on their own. They also offer support
to foster parents who are using the Ansell-Casey Life Skills Assessment
(more on that below).
The Alaska Foster Parent Training Center is also working with OCS to
provide information about life skills to young people in foster care
and their foster parents at critical ages in a foster child's life. At
age 14, 16, and 17 AFPTC sends a personal letter and other information
to the foster child and the foster parent (along with a note to the OCS
worker to let them know the contact took place). The letters remind the
child and the foster parent about the life-skills assessment, funding
and training opportunities, and the support that AFPTC can provide. The
letter to the young person also includes books like "Teenagers Preparing
for the Real World"; a "Life Book" to hold their important
papers, photos, and memories; and "A Future Near Me - Questions
To Guide A Young Adult Through Self Sufficiency". More about this
Ansell-Casey Life Skills Assessment not exactly funded through OCS (its free), the agency has adopted
the Ansell-Casey Life Skills Assessment as a standard part
of our case
plan. Every young person who turns age 14 and 16 in foster
care will take the assessment, and life-skills goals will
be adopted into the case
plan. Many workers and programs are using the assessment more
frequently and at other ages as well.
The assessment is very simple to take, takes only a few minutes to complete,
and automatically provides an individual report of life skills. It is
designed to be taken by both the young person and someone familiar with
the young person, so that each person's perceptions about the young person's
life skills can be compared.
The Ansell-Casey Life Skills Assessment web site also offers a fantastic
resource for developing a case plan from the results of the assessment,
and a great resource for foster parents looking for ideas to develop
specific life skills. Go directly to their site at caseylifeskills.org.
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